[Counting of axillary lymph nodes during surgery of breast cancer. A comparison between radiographic examination and pathological assessment]

Abstract

Proper breast cancer surgery should include removal of at least ten axillary lymph nodes according to recommendations given by DBCG (The Danish Breast Cancer Group). The present study evaluated the results of counting the lymph nodes peroperatively on radiographs of the axillary tissue compared to the final pathological examination, the latter being considered the "gold standard". Since agreement between the two methods was found in only 66 out of 90 patients (Kappa value 0.279), we consider the peroperative radiological examination of the axillary fat to be of no practical value.